At Emerald, we are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion and are focused on creating a balanced workforce which reflects the customers and communities we work with. We are passionate about equal opportunities and the fair treatment of our global workforce.
We value difference and diversity and our aim is to provide an inclusive working environment for our current and future people, where difference and individuality is valued, encouraged, recognised and celebrated.
Ensuring we are an inclusive and attractive employer of choice for people with disabilities and long term health conditions is really important to us, and we aim to provide policies, procedures and ways of working that support this.
The following sections of this report outline what we are currently doing to achieve this aim, and we are excited about the further steps we will make throughout 2023.
Our disability narrative
Disability reporting
Data is a key focus for Emerald, as we know it is only through understanding the makeup of our business that we are able to identify areas for improvement and celebrate our progress.
Data is currently collected through self service HR records. Internal communications messages in early 2020 explained why this is so important to the business, and were transparent about what we do with that information. To thank colleagues for sharing this information with us, Emerald makes a donation to a charity of their choice for every record completed.
We also request that candidates applying for roles complete an Equal Opportunities questionnaire to monitor the diversity of our applicant pool. In both these collection methods, we have asked; ‘Do you consider yourself to have a disability or long term health condition?’
Whilst we are pleased with the response to date, we recognise we have a way to go to ensure that our data genuinely reflects our people. We continue to strive to more accurately report on the percentage of colleagues sharing a disability.
Our mental health & wellbeing
Mental health affects us all, and providing effective mental health and wellbeing support is key part of our drive to be an inclusive employer. We are really proud of the steps we have, and continue to take to support our colleagues. Here are just a few of those steps:
- Time to Change Pledge signed in 2019 to demonstrate our commitment to change the way we think and act about mental health in the workplace
- Wellbeing initiatives planned throughout the year, with an array of workshops aligned to national awareness days designed to support mental and physical health.
- A dedicated Wellbeing room where colleagues can take time out to relax and concentrate on themselves, and a number of online ‘cafés’ to provide support for colleagues remotely.
- Let’s Talk About…..campaign which invites colleagues to talk about their mental health and share their story across the business. So far we have covered areas such as Depression, ADHD, PTSD and more.
- Dedicated and personalised mental health support available through the Employee Assistance Programme.
- We are an active participant in the annual Mental Health Awareness campaigns, and in 2022 we ran discussions and collated resources on a different topic connected with
the official theme of Loneliness. All resources are now permanently available to all employees to access. - Participation in the Time to Talk initiative, encouraging colleagues to have conversations around their mental health.
- Existing Mental Health First Aiders refresher trained and new MFHA’s recruited..
Transparency breeds trust, and we aim to continue to be open and accepting of everyone’s mental health, so that our colleagues feel able to bring their whole selves to work and celebrate individual differences.
Wellbeing reporting
In order to help us understand how well we are supporting our colleagues around mental health and wellbeing it’s important we ask the right questions. We have for many years carried out annual Engagement surveys, and following the participation in the Mind Wellbeing Index in 2019 we have also introduced a wellbeing specific survey.
These surveys provide data around:
- Our wellbeing initiatives, their participation rates and their successes
- Our culture
- Our information and knowledge sharing regarding wellbeing and mental health.
We will continue this journey into the coming year and aim to increase our wellbeing score year on year through targeted action plans, and an intention to openly publish these results.